T K Govinda Rao, Nada Inbam

T K Govinda Rao - S Varadarajan - Guruvayur Durai

Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall
27th December 2006. 6:30 pm

abhimAnamen - bEgaDa - Adi - PSI (short sketch, S)
ikanaina nA - pushpalatikA - Adi - Tirupati Narayanaswami (NS)
sivakAma sundarI - jagan mOhini - rUpakam - GKB (S)
mInAkshI mE mudam - pUrvikalyANi - Adi - MD (RNS)
mundu vEnuga - darbAr - Adi - T (RS)
tani
vEnkaTa saila vihArA - hamIrkalyANI - Adi - Subbaraya Sastri (RS)
bArO krishNayyA - mAND
tillAnA - gambIravANi???

Sri Govinda Rao's concert was a very fulfilling one. He was, as his usual self, flowing with spontaineity and his imporvisational capablities were very very inspiring.

The concert began with a short sketch of bEgaDa and abhimAnamen, which i was hoping, was sung with a beautiful set of svarams. The pushpalatikA piece was nicely rendered with a nice neraval at 'karuNinci nIvu kApATa lEdA' and svarams. The jaganmOhini piece was very good. The svarams were nice also.

As Sri Govinda Rao, started singing pUrvikalyANi, i was a bit reluctant, as this was the second AlApanai of the ragam I got to hear, in as many hours time. But, given Sri Govinda Rao's creativity and ideas, i had to pay attention the rAgam in a short while, as he started off. It was quite different from the earlier one, which Sri Balasubramanian's. Each being good in its own way. BB's was filled with gamakkams and a lot of bhavam. TKG's was very very creative and explorative. His inclusion of some hindustani-style phrases, gave a different flavour to the rAgam. I was praying that it should not be the same kriti. Alas, it was. TKG's mInAkshi mE mudam was strikingly different from the earlier one. His on-the-spot sangatis along with the regular sangatis one gets to hear were all good. What stood out was the stunning neraval at 'madurA puri nilayE maNi valayE' for 20 minutes, which included 10 minutes of 'sama kAla neraval'. It was very logically built and very very inspiring. As he started singing the svarams in pUrvikalyANi, clock was closing towards 8 o clock. One had made up, one's mind to expect a tani after the kriti.

It wasnt the main piece. When Sri Durai finished the Avartanam after the pUrvikalyANi piece, Sri Govinda Rao, started a rAgam which i wasnt sure if it was darbAr or nAyaki. His second phrase however reassured, it was indeed darbAr. Sri TKG confessed it was the first time, he ever attempted to elaborate darbAr, while he has tried singing nAyaki umpteen times. The AlApanai was very good. A darbAr main, was something i have been longing to hear for ages now. It was fulfilled y'day. His 10+ min AlApanai of the rAgam was very nice and his creativity and ideas were very inspiring. The AlApanai was very indicative of the kriti that was going to come. The kriti was rendered beautifully with a nice round of svarams. In between the AlApanai he sang a few of snatches of nAyaki, here and there, and explained some of the the subtle differences between the two.

As the tani ended, it was 8:45, for somebody expecting a couple of tukkaDas, there came a hamIrkalyANi AlApanai. Here again, some of the hindustani-style phrases gave an added effect to the rAgam. The kriti, was rendered with a quick round of svarams at 'kaNTini'. With very heavy heart, i had to leave as he was singing bArO krishNayya, as it was getting quite late. An amazing concert for a man, who is nearing his 80s. All the neraval and svarams were good. All thro' the concert, most svara prastharams were only one avarthanam long. With just one avartana svarams, the amount of creative and the number of phrases he could produce were just too good.

Sri Varadarajan on the violin, was very good. His support at the concert was very sedate and he gave exact replies to the main artist and tried to follow him as much. Sri Dorai was, needless to say, too good. His playing for each kriti and the sangati and each kind of neraval were amazing. The tani very very nice also.